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Farming Can Be Dangerous

While there’s no doubt that being a cop or firefighter is a dangerous job, being a farmer is even riskier. The rate of fatal occupational injuries for farmers and ranchers is 38.5 per 100,000 full-time workers, versus 4.4 for firefighters, and 13.1 for police and sheriff’s patrol officers, according to U.S. Labor Department data for 2009, the most recent available.
“It seems counter-intuitive because you hear about violent accidents; you probably hear less about people dying when tractors roll over on them,” said Jim Rice, an economist at the Labor Department. “For those who do work on farms, it’s still a dangerous occupation.”

Re: Farming Can Be Dangerous

It makes perfect sense to me. Many farms are still family run so there are rarely "employees". Most OSHA visits are prompted by an employee complaint or tip. And it is not coincidence that when something is cobbled back together the say it was fixed with chewing gum and baling wire.

Old farmers are the worst about bypassing many safety features. I have seen hundreds of ground pins clipped from power tools and extension cords for example. Safety guards are regularly removed.

In addition, farmers regularly work alone, away from anyone who they could call out to for help and often work very fatigued.

"There are five real good recruits in the state. We got three of them. One couldn’t get into school, and the other went to (the University of) Iowa...which is about the same thing." - Coach Johnny Orr

Re: Farming Can Be Dangerous

I'm guessing Jim Rice doesn't have an ag background. <Insert baseball reference here>
You still hear about the occassional rollover, but those are becoming more rare. PTOs, augers, grain bins, and handling toxic chemicals are some of the situations driving those stats.

Re: Farming Can Be Dangerous

Its about much more than "tractors rolling over on people". They are a lot of moving things on the farm, Augars, belts, etc. In addition they are out there in all kinds of weather, wearing all sorts of baggy clothing and all different ages(some very young), with out the normal safety precautions you would find in a factory. Its an accident waiting to happen. And the accidents more often than many other professions result in death or at least in very serious injury.

Re: Farming Can Be Dangerous

Doesn't surprise me at all. Growing up I remember hearing stories about kids/farmers getting caught in augers. Very gruesome. More recently, it seems like you hear about a farmer that falls into a grain bin every month or so. Not to mention tractors rolling over.

Re: Farming Can Be Dangerous

Don't forget about livestock related fatalities. I know a guy that was killed by a bull that he raised and had been like a pet. Farming is not an easy occupation, that's for sure. All it takes is for a farmer to not be paying attention for one moment. I've been taken over gates by cattle before, luckily I'm young enough to be able to get the heck out of the way.

Re: Farming Can Be Dangerous

No offense, but did people really not know that farming is dangerous? I mean, I'll admit that I know next to nothing about the day-to-day activities of farming, but even I can imagine working with large (often sharp) machines, large livestock, huge grain bins, etc would be dangerous.

Re: Farming Can Be Dangerous

Growing up on a farm, I'm not surprised by this at all. Most places you don't have to look very far before finding someone without a finger, arm, etc. from some sort of farming accident.

As someone else mentioned, almost every machine on a farm has all sorts of moving parts, and most farmers work alone so if something does happen, they either can't call for help or it takes awhile to get there.

Re: Farming Can Be Dangerous

Originally Posted by edr247

No offense, but did people really not know that farming is dangerous? I mean, I'll admit that I know next to nothing about the day-to-day activities of farming, but even I can imagine working with large (often sharp) machines, large livestock, huge grain bins, etc would be dangerous.

Its not the large, sharp dangerous equipment. That type of machinery is all over general industry. It comes down to the fact that family farms are not regulated by OSHA. They don't have to follow LOTO rules so they work on equipment when its running, they step over PTO shafts, don't have augers gaurded, apply ammonia with little training and no respirators. Its things like this that makes farming dangerous.

A lot of what goes on at a farm would cause them to get fired if they worked for a large company. I've seen enough farmers come to industry, know what they are doing, but get fired because "they have never been hurt doing it that way before" so they don't follow the safety rules.

Re: Farming Can Be Dangerous

I had a buddy get caught in a PTO back when I used to build grain bins, and he was lucky because he came through uninjured, but it literally ripped his jeans clean off him. Split them right in two. The power of those implements is unreal.

Re: Farming Can Be Dangerous

Farmers are not exactly careful people. They are macho, no sense of fear/respect for any task or chore no matter how dangerous it is. And they are rebellious, refusing to be told what and how to do things more safely. This is not a criticism. It's an observation from 50 years of being around friends and family who farm (I don't).

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